IGNDC Interviews Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford

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He talks. We listen. You want Half-Life. Something for everyone, eh?

By IGN Staff

We here at IGN don't ask for much. We like to drive fast. We like to make that spectacular game-winning catch to clinch the Division title. We like to save the world every now and then, and of course...we like to blow stuff up. But Valve wasn't too worried about what we want when they put together Half-Life, instead, going out of their way to give us a game that we didn't even know we needed. And the beautiful thing? Now, it's headed to Dreamcast, and we had a chat with Randy Pitchford, Director at Gearbox Software, the evil masterminds behind the console overhaul of this incredible title. Soak up his words, and prepare yourself for a new paradigm in first person quality on a console system:

IGN Dreamcast: You guys have had some experience with the Half-Life engine in Opposing Force, but what's it like having the first set of keys to Valve's pending console kingdom? There's got to be a lot of pressure with this port. How do you think you guys are doing, along with Captivation, at living up to the HL legacy?

Randy Pitchford: Half-Life for Dreamcast is unique in that it's the only fps game to come to the system from the PC that boasts upgrades and enhancements instead of the usual reduction in content detail. When it's factored in that an entirely new game (Half-Life: Blue Shift) will be included with the Dreamcast version, it's hard to argue that there are plenty of reasons for old Half-Life fans and new Dreamcast owners to take a look.

IGNDC: Are you guys big FPS fans, and have you surveyed much of the console scene? What sort of effect do you think Half-Life's arrival on Dreamcast will have on the average gamer's view of first-person shooters?

RP: Developers at Gearbox Software not only play every FPS known to man, the guys here have previously contributed to some of the most important games in the Dallas 3d action game scene - from Duke Nukem 3D to Quake.

The console world has had different luck with FPS games, however. The most significant console FPS games have been on the N64. However, I suspect that Half-Life is the type of high-quality entertainment that will not only introduce new Dreamcast players to the genre, but will create a craving in them for more.

IGNDC: What about the port itself? We know you guys have added a lot to the Dreamcast version. Could you tell us a bit about the new features of the DC version, and fill us in on how things are coming along? How is the Dreamcast version stacking up to gaming PCs, performance wise? The game certainly looked sharp at ECTS.

RP: Half-Life for Dreamcast has a few very important features and a bunch of little details that make the overall experience great. Specifically, the content has been overhauled with enhancements in character detail, animation articulation and weapons. Additionally, included will be an entirely new game called Half-Life: Blue Shift where players will take on the role of the Black Mesa security guard known as Barney.

Right now, the game performs very well. It's running much faster than the original PC game's recommended system - and that's with all of the upgrades to content that the PC version doesn't feature.

All in all, Half-Life for Dreamcast is great. It's like getting the best looking version of Half-Life yet and getting a second game for the price of one.

IGNDC: One thing about the version we saw at ECTS was that the game was a little choppy and had trouble with events. Now that the game is nearly complete, how did things shape up there? What sort of frame-rate can we expect?

RP: Since the game was shown at ECTS, it's undergone massive optimizations that have resulted in several iterations of frame rate improvements. For example, the game used slow down a lot with gibs (little bits of stuff that get thrown out into the world when things blow up).

Today, things have been tuned to reduce the impact those minor details would have on the game speeds. Additionally, we've spent some time in the Half-Life and Blue Shift maps, optimizing things to make sure too much stuff isn't having to be managed by the CPU at one time.

IGNDC: Obviously, a big issue with the conversion will be control. How are you setting up the control scheme? What about support for peripherals? Will we see mouse & keyboard action? What about 3rd Party peripherals like the Madcatz Panther?

RP: Half-Life for Dreamcast fully supports Dreamcast mice and keyboards. The game has been tuned, however, to be fun using the standard Dreamcast controller. If you're a typical console player who's used to the Dreamcast controller, you'll probably want to stay with that picking one of the standard pre-set configurations. If you're a hard-core Half-Life fan, youmay want to play the game using the PC style interface of mouse and keyboard or at least use the custom configurability options to set up your own personal interface options.

IGNDC: We've been playing through the PC yet again to help with the wait, but we're getting more and more curious by the day about one thing we can't experience right now: the DC-exclusive Blue Shift. What's the deal with the new scenario? Spill the beans on life with Barney.

RP: We're very proud of Half-Life: Blue Shift and we can't wait for the world to play it. It would be a shame to ruin the experience by talking about it too much here, but I can discuss the premise. When Barney begins work at the Black Mesa Research Facility in Blue Shift, Gordon is also arriving to begin the experiment. Of course, the experiement is a disaster - tearing a rift between Earth and an alien world. Barney sees these events from an entirely new perspective and must work together with other Black Mesa civilians to formulate a plan.

There are miles of new environments, tons of new equipment to play with, new major characters and plenty of other surprises. Half-Life for Blue Shift is a perfect compliment for Half-Life on the Dreamcast taking full advantage of all of the upgraded content.

IGNDC: Speaking of which, is the scenario still a DC exclusive with the PS2 version of Half-Life hot on its heels?

IGNDC: Another big question mark for gamers has to be the exclusion of online play. Can you tell us a bit about the decision to split the online and offline aspects of the game into two separate games?

Randy Pitchford: Half-Life and Blue Shift are very deep single player games that require a lot of focus and attention to make them right on the Dreamcast. For now, it just makes sense for us to concentrate on single player first.

IGNDC: Now that you're getting closer to wrapping up the single player SKU, what sort of plans do you have for the multi-player version of Half-Life on Dreamcast? Are you looking to making it online-only? What about PC-to-DC play? DC-to-PS2 or xbox, perhaps? Either way, we can't wait for a little Counter-Strike!

RP: We'll address this once the first project is complete.

We'd like to thank Randy for putting up with our aimless inquiries, Gen for being the Queen, and Valve for making us hate other FPS games. Oh, and Dave Z over at IGNPS2 for being an inspiration for struggling super-models everywhere.